Is there any effective radical cure for nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

Only patients can understand the pain of nasopharyngeal cancer directly. It not only affects life, but also the quality of life. Thorough treatment is needed. So, what are the radical cures for nasopharyngeal cancer? Are they effective?

The nasopharynx is small and close to many important organs. Most nasopharyngeal carcinomas are poorly differentiated and highly malignant, prone to lymph node metastasis, and difficult to be cured by surgery. However, nasopharyngeal carcinoma is sensitive to radiation, so radiotherapy is currently the preferred method for treating nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Clinically, the main treatments for early stage NPC include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine and immunotherapy. Among them, radiotherapy is considered the first choice for NPC. NPC is sensitive to radiation. Radiotherapy for NPC kills tumor cells, but normal tissues or organ cells are also inevitably affected by radiation.

The reason why radiotherapy is the best treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma is that most nasopharyngeal carcinomas are low-decomposition squamous cell carcinomas, which are highly malignant and easily invade the surrounding tissues of the nasopharynx and metastasize to the cervical lymph nodes, making them difficult to completely remove by surgery. The nasopharynx is located in the center of the head, in a relatively hidden position, and is adjacent to important organ tissues, cranial nerves, blood vessels, etc. The surgical exposure is extremely limited, and the surgery can easily damage surrounding tissues. The risk of surgery is relatively high, and it is even more impossible to perform large-scale consecutive resections of nasopharyngeal tumors and cervical lymph drainage areas. Therefore, the effect of surgical treatment alone for nasopharyngeal carcinoma is poor.